The present invention relates to a commercial laundry collection apparatus of the type having a removable laundry bag maintained on an appropriate bag stand for receipt of soiled laundry.
In various commercial and institutional facilities, apparatus are often provided for collection of soiled laundry generated during operation of the facility. Generally, the apparatus will include an expandable bag stand upon which a removable laundry bag is maintained. The soiled laundry is deposited into the laundry bag, which is removed from the bag stand when full. Generally, full bags will be picked up on a regular schedule by a commercial laundry service. The commercial laundry service will then typically wash the bag with its contents inside an industrial washing machine.
The standard laundry bag which has been used for this purpose has a width of approximately 30 inches and a height of approximately 40 inches. The bag is formed of two rectangular pieces of fabric which are stitched together across the bottom and up the two sides. The upper portion of the laundry bag remains open to define a bag mouth. A narrow piece of material is stitched around the circumference of the top edge of the laundry bag to define a hollow tunnel. A drawstring is inserted into this hollow tunnel to act as a closure. Specifically, when the ends of the drawstring are pulled, the mouth of the laundry bag closes. The ends of the drawstring may be tied together to keep the contents of the bag inside during transit and washing.
Two types of stands are generally used with the standard laundry bag. The first type is generally referred to as the up-right stand. The up-right stand has four rigid rods extending upwardly from the respective corners of a rectangular base. The laundry bag is maintained in the area between the upstanding rods by folding the upper portion of the laundry bag over the upper end of each rod.
The second type of stand is referred to as the x-stand. The x-stand is constructed of a pair of generally rectangular frame members interconnected at their respective midpoints to pivot. In this manner, the frame members may be expanded to a predetermined maximum extent at which the stand resembles an "X" when viewed on end. The laundry bag is maintained on the stand by loosely folding an upper portion of the laundry bag over the respective tops of the rectangular frame members, which thus serves as a bag supporting portion of the stand.
Prior art laundry collection apparatus, such as described above, have suffered from a number of significant disadvantages. First, the laundry bags have had an excessive tendency not to remain on the bag stand. As an illustration, consider a typical environment--the back kitchen area of a restaurant. In this case, the laundry bag may be used to collect various types of soiled laundry, including relatively heavy tablecloths. Generally, such laundry is thrown from a distance by a very busy staff. As expected, some pieces of laundry will land in the bag as desired. Other pieces, however, will hit the upper portion of the bag, causing it to be displaced from the bag stand. Often, the restaurant staff will continue to throw pieces of laundry toward the bag, resulting in a pile of laundry on the floor.
Another significant problem which occurs with a standard laundry bag is tangling of the drawstring during washing. Unlike a household washing machine, an industrial washing machine holds between 50 and 800 pounds of laundry per load. Such machines typically load from the front and turn in full revolution (clockwise six times, then counterclockwise six times). Because of their light weight and rough surface, the drawstrings of the laundry bags tend to wrap around and twist together during the washing process. Often, the drawstrings of several laundry bags will become tangled together. When this happens, the wash attendant must generally cut off all of the drawstrings to get them untangled.
In an effort to overcome the problem of drawstring tangling, the assignee of the present invention developed a laundry bag which did not have a drawstring. Instead, this prior art laundry bag utilized a pair of flat tie members attached to the upper portion of the laundry bag at opposite locations across the bag mouth. The tie members were approximately 45 centimeters in length and had a substantially uniform width of approximately 5 centimeters. When this laundry bag was full, the tie members were tied together to close the mouth of the laundry bag for transit and washing.
While this laundry bag did eliminate the drawstring, the tie members still had a tendency to tangle during washing. Additionally, the tie members of this laundry bag would often come untied by themselves. Furthermore, like the standard laundry bag, this laundry bag had a tendency to fall off of the bag stand.